MINNEAPOLIS — South Carolina set sights on its ultimate goal — winning the national championship — before the season’s first tip. The Gamecocks turned their goal into reality Sunday night, winning the 2022 NCAA tournament championship with a win over the UConn Huskies.
Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks (35-2) defeated Geno Auriemma’s UConn 64-49 in front of a sellout crowd at Minneapolis’ Target Center in the matchup’s second meeting of the 2021-22 season.
South Carolina’s win solidified the program’s second national title and first since 2017. Both of the Gamecocks’ championships have come under Staley.
South Carolina played the nation’s strongest schedule, according to RealTimeRPI, going 11-0 against teams ranked in the AP top 25. The Gamecocks defeated two of the 2022 Final Four teams, 1-seed Stanford and 2-seed UConn, in the regular season.
USC came into the NCAA tournament as the top overall seed and defeated No. 16 Howard, No. 8 Miami, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 10 Creighton and No. 1 Louisville to make it to the national championship meeting with UConn.
Henderson shines in Gamecocks’ championship win
South Carolina senior point guard Destanni Henderson made it clear she didn’t want to leave South Carolina without a national title under her belt.
Henderson catalyzed the Gamecocks’ offensive effort, sinking early 3-point shots and playing a key role in pacing USC’s offense. She scored a career-high in South Carolina’s national championship victory.
Henderson also spent much of the game defending UConn star Paige Bueckers, who was neutralized to just 14 points in the national championship.
Henderson led fellow South Carolina veteran starters, who all scored by the first quarter. South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston tallied her 30th double-double of the 2021-22 season. She put up an SEC record 27 straight double-doubles throughout the season. Zia Cooke also scored in double figures.
Gamecocks find success again behind strong defense
South Carolina held UConn to its lowest single-quarter scoring output of the season when it earned a 22-8 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes.
The Gamecocks were able to push their lead to as many as 18 points in the second quarter and never gave up the lead, even when offensive lulls would allow the Huskies to bring the game closer.
The Gamecocks reached the NCAA championship behind their lockdown defense, which led the NCAA tournament heading into Monday by allowing an average of 44.8 points per game. South Carolina’s defense had made history in the tournament’s first two rounds, allowing Howard and Miami just 54 combined points through the tournament’s first two rounds.
Rebounding guides USC once again
The Gamecocks used their dominance on the offensive boards for guidance in a night where their shots weren’t falling as efficiently as they had been in their previous two games.
South Carolina has used its rebounding dominance throughout the 2021-22 season and saw it continue to benefit them in the UConn win.
Despite having a less efficient field goal percentage than the Huskies, the Gamecocks were able to find more opportunities to score behind its offensive rebounding dominance.
